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How Unified Communications Makes Escalating Issues Faster and Easier

When customers call with problems, they expect fast resolution. Don’t let an outdated phone system slow you down.

If you’re relying on older technology, connecting the customer with the right person, right away could be challenging, resulting in longer hold times and callbacks. Plus, since today’s customers have multiple ways to interact with your business, they may seek answers using a variety of channels, from email and instant messaging to social media. All of this makes delivering a stellar customer experience more than a little challenging.

To deliver an exceptional experience, customers must to be able to escalate complicated issues quickly and easily. For that, says Forrester Research, customer service teams need three technologies: queuing and routing, customer relationship management (CRM) and workforce optimization.

A unified communications (UC) solution that integrates these components optimizes the escalation process. With both information and people just a click away, your team can deliver a frictionless experience – even for those customers with complex issues. The following examples illustrate how unified communications can help you do the job.

Seamless Collaboration

Getting the right answer to a customer quickly requires efficient team collaboration. When voice and data communications are integrated, escalating an issue to the right expert becomes much simpler.

If agents don’t have the knowledge required to solve a problem, UC enables them to seamlessly escalate the issue to others on the team, even while they continue the conversation with the customer. On their dashboard, agents can open a panel and begin a private IM session with a colleague. Or, they can place a side call to discuss the issue with a supervisor.

Because they’re browser-based, unified communications apps allow collaboration among internal teams while external users can join the collaboration without the need for plug-ins, multiple application windows, passwords or complex set-up. This means agents can collaborate with the customer, too. For example, they can share a video or screen and visually walk the customer through corrective steps.

Reach Experts Wherever They Are

Another advantage of UC -- it allows employees to find colleagues wherever they are. Apps for smartphones, tablets and wearable devices make it possible to reach subject matter experts and supervisors in any location – whether it’s another part of the building, a branch office, an airport or at home. This significantly cuts down the amount of time spent making multiple phone calls to track down the people needed to solve the customer’s problem.

Easy Access to Customer Insights

Unified communications is at its most powerful when it’s integrated into other business applications, such as CRM. With access to detailed customer records, your team is better prepared to troubleshoot issues. For instance, with the ability to view a customer’s contact history, the agent can identify the most recent representative who resolved a similar problem for the client, use the presence feature to determine if that same expert is available, and then simply click to route the call.

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of UC is that all of this is largely invisible to the customer. Seamless communication happens behind the scenes, enabling team members to resolve issues efficiently. The customer is more likely to rate the experience highly -- a huge win in customer loyalty -- all made possible with help from unified communications.